There are two main areas of activity hidden behind the catch-phrase "high technology": the domain of computers and communication, and biological engineering. Because both deal with patterns of organization and information, it would seem that linguistics could contribute to their advancement. The main concept in information systems is distinctiveness, with its attendant notion of code. The main activity in information technology is the designing, implementation, and checking of devices capable of effecting specified operations on codes while preserving certain types of distinctiveness. Similarly, in biological engineering, the primary concern is with genetic codes expressed in the systems of the cell. The type of awareness linguists have developed about language, or psychologists and ethnologists about other sense systems, is needed to bring scholars in technology a wider, contextual perspective on what they are trying to do, especially since the objects they are dealing with are increasingly linked to their contexts. (MSE)

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